System and method for social platform based private social network

ABSTRACT

The present systems and methods are directed to a private network of personal social sensors. The sensors are irreversibly paired with a communication device which ensures privacy of data. The sensors communicate data via a short range communications link to a communication device that in turn securely transmits the sensor data to a secure data store. A user may share their data with others within their social sensor network.

CROSS REFERENCE

The present application claims the benefit of US Provisional ApplicationNo. 62/079,948 filed Nov. 14, 2014, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a private network of social sensorsgenerally and more specifically to devices, systems and methods forcreating and utilizing a private personal sensor network and platformthat securely gathers and monitors environmental parameters andinterfaces with a network.

BACKGROUND

Portable electronic devices such as smart phones and tablets have becomeubiquitous in everyday life, allowing users to monitor and share theirpersonal everyday experiences with their friends or the world. Thisincludes sharing photos, videos, music, messages and just about allother aspects of daily life. Becoming ever more prevalent are personalsensor devices that monitor fitness and health and allow the wearer totrack and share exercise, diet and sleep habits or to monitor it via asmart device. Furthermore, there are social media sites, like Facebook™and Instagram™ that allow users to share every aspect of their dailylives, from the moment they awake in the morning until they sleep atnight. Some user voluntarily share this information on social mediasites, such as Facebook™ Instagram™ or Twitter™ while others only wishto share it with a close network of friends or to keep it private.Unfortunately, there are many people who look to exploit this availablepersonal information for various purposes, including identify theft,stalking, bullying, etc. This is often a result of unsecure datatransmissions, computer hacking of devices, storage media orinterception of unsecure data in transit. Further, it is often the casethat the user loses control and ownership of their data.

Accordingly, a need exists for a device, system and method forcollecting, storing and transmitting secure personal information withthe ability to securely share it on a limited or wide basis. Further, itis necessary to have a system where a user can keep and control data ina private manner and selectively share it when and with whomever theychoose. Further, there is a need for a system and service wherein theuser maintains the ownership of the data.

Social media usage continues to expand and users look to share not onlytheir personal comments and photos, but their interactions with thesurroundings and their environment. To do this personal sensors arebeing developed that allow users to monitor and share eating, sleeping,and exercise habits. There are also numerous wireless sensors and homeautomation devices that allow users to monitor and control temperature,humidity, ambient light, etc. Many of these sensors communicate throughvarious applications over Wi-Fi or the internet and allow users tomonitor these sensors and often control lights, thermostats, alarms,etc. The various sensors involved are often bulky, consume large amountsof power and are often aesthetically unpleasing. Additionally thesesensors often do not protect the data they collect and share and arevulnerable to monitoring and interception because the collected data isintended to be transmitted outside a closed environment. Accordingly, aneed exists for a sensor and system that is secure, utilizes low power,is aesthetically pleasing, expandable, manages privacy through the useof a personal hardware gateway, allows a user to designate privacysetting on a granular basis, and allows a user to share information in asocial environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, in the present system, the privacy tools and securityfeatures are fundamental to establish data ownership and privacy. In anembodiment, the present system not only enables user's to gather,monitor, and share data, but it also enables the user to maintainprivate ownership of the data, and to do what ever they choose with thedata including auction or otherwise sell or dispose of the data on theuser's terms. Unlike, present system that exploit user data andeffectively claim ownership of user data, the present system allowsusers to maintain 100% control of the personal data. The system will notshare anything outside of the system without the user's expressauthorization. In an embodiment, user can even determine where the datais saved. That is, a user may easily avoid any third party storage orthird party clouds

In an embodiment, a system for gathering data comprising a sensor with aunique sensor ID, a communications device with a unique communicationdevice ID and a data store are disclosed. The sensor is paired with thecommunications device in an exclusive relationship based on the sensorID and the communications device ID, the communications device is pairedwith the data store based on the communications device ID, and thesensor communicates a sensor data to the communications device via afirst communications link, and the communications device communicatesthe sensor data to the data store via a second communications link.

In another embodiment, the system further comprises a devicecertificate. The device certificate comprises an information codeassociated with the unique sensor ID or the unique communications deviceID. In another embodiment, the first communications link is a shortrange communications link. In still another embodiment, the informationcode is a machine readable code. In still another embodiment, the devicecertificate is a paper certificate and the information code is unique tothe sensor or the communications device. In still another embodiment,the device certificate is available electronically and the informationcode is unique to the sensor or the communications device.

In another embodiment, the sensor data in the data store may be sharedwith a plurality of users. In another embodiment, the communicationsdevice substantially instantaneously, inhibits the sharing of the sensordata at the request of a data owner.

In embodiment, a method for collecting data is disclosed. The methodcomprising, generating, via a sensor, sensor data related to anenvironmental parameter; transmitting, from the sensor, via a shortrange communications link, the sensor data to a communications device;receiving, at the communications device, the sensor data, transmitting,from the communications device, to a network, via a communications link,the received sensor data, receiving at a data store, via the network,the transmitted sensor data; and storing the sensor data in the datastore.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises displaying thesensor data on a display of a personal user device, wherein thedisplayed sensor data is associated with at least one of the following:a geographic location, a user, a sensor type, a geographic region, avendor, a residence, a commercial establishment, a vehicle, a building,a storage location, and a facility. In still another embodiment, thedisplayed sensor data is positioned on an underlying map, and the mapmay display a personal space layer.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises determining a datastorage location based on a user selected data storage setting, whereinthe data storage setting may be selected from a private storage settingor a third-party storage setting. In another embodiment, the pluralityof users can provide comments on the collected data in near real time.In still another embodiment, pairing the sensor to the communicationsdevice is done in an exclusive relationship based on the sensor ID andthe communications device ID.

In another embodiment, the communications device pairs with a pluralityof sensors. In still another embodiment, the pairing between the sensorand the communications device is irreversible.

In an embodiment, a method for establishing sensor data privacy isdisclosed. The method comprises installing a client on a firstcommunications device, establishing, via a first short rangecommunications link, a connection between the first communicationsdevice and a second communication device, communicating, via acommunications link, between the first communications device and adatabase, inputting, into the first communications device, a unique IDassociated with the second communications device, transmitting, via thecommunications link, the unique ID associated with the secondcommunications device, authenticating the second communications device,by comparing the unique ID associated with the second communicationsdevice to data stored in the database, and pairing, based on theauthentication, the first communications device and the secondcommunications device.

In another embodiment, the method comprises, establishing, via a secondshort range communications link, a connection between the secondcommunications device and a sensor, inputting, via the client, a sensorID associated with the sensor, transmitting, via the communicationslink, the sensor ID to the database, authenticating the sensor, bycomparing the sensor ID to data stored in the database, pairing, basedon the authentication, the sensor with the first communications deviceand the second communications device.

In another embodiment, the method comprises, transmitting sensor datafrom the sensor, via the second short range communications link, to thesecond communications device, receiving, at the second communicationsdevice, the sensor data, transmitting from the second communicationsdevice, via a second communications link, the received sensor data,receiving, the transmitted sensor data; and storing the sensor data in asecure data store. In still another embodiment, the method comprisesdisplaying the sensor data on a map display based on location dataassociated with the stored sensor data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a sensor social network in accordance with an embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a sensor social networking platform in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are illustrations of sensors in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3C is a cross sectional illustration of a sensor in accordance withan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 depicts the components within a sensor in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 depicts the main components of a typical BLE chip set inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 depicts the components within a sensor in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of the circuitry of a switch device inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram of the circuitry of a DC switch device inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9A depicts an illustration of a link device in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 9B-C are is a cross sectional illustration of a link device inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 depicts a high level block diagram of the hardware assembly of alink device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the interconnections of the hardwareassembly of the link device in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a cellular subsystem of a link device inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 depicts the WLAN/Bluetooth subsystem in a link device inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram of the initialization process in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is an illustration of the various communication interconnectionsbetween components in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 16A-B are illustrations of the various communicationinterconnections between components in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is an illustration of a sensor based social networking system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 is an illustration of a sensor based social networking system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 19A-E are various map layer views of a sensor based socialnetworking system in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 20 depicts a location view of a sensor based social networkingsystem in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21 depict a location view of a sensor based social networkingsystem in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 22 depicts a location view of a sensor based social networkingsystem in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 23 depicts a contact list of a sensor based social networkingsystem in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 24A-B depict contact views of a list of business contacts for asensor based social networking system in accordance with an embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIGS. 25A-C depict views of a personal contacts activities for a sensorbased social networking system in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 26A depicts a user's display view for a personal space for a sensorbased social networking system in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 26B depicts an activity menu display view for a sensor based socialnetworking system in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 27 depicts an activity pixel in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIGS. 28A-B depict a user's privacy settings for a sensor based socialnetworking system in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 29A-H depict various stream views of a user's sensor network inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 30A-B depicts an activity screen with a social network inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 31A-B depicts an activity screen with a social network inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 32 depicts an activity screen with a social network in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 33 depicts an activity screen in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 34 depicts an activity screen creator in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 35 depicts an activity screen creator in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 36 depicts an activity screen creator in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 37 depicts an activity screen creator in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 38 depicts a general computer architecture in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts a network in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The sensor network 100 may include a series of proprietarysensors, third party sensors, controllable switches, cameras, etc. orother devices. It is to be understood, that the term sensors as usedherein may included sensors for gathering data from the surroundings, aswell as controllable switches, cameras, proximity detector and othermonitored devices. Sensors may be deployed in many differentenvironments, such as retail locations 120, cars, 125, office buildings,130, storage buildings, 135, boats, 140 homes, and offices and/orapartments 145. The deployed sensors may then communicate to network 110directly or via a cellular network 175. Network 110 may be any wide areanetwork such as the internet which may then communicate with othernetworks 230. Network 230 may be a private network with private storagecapabilities or may be a personal user network with personal storagecapabilities. Network 230 may include any one network or severalnetworks, including a LAN, WAN or open source global network, public orprivate, or any combination thereof with access to the sensor platformcoupled to the network, and the devices coupled to the network, areincluded in such reference. It should be understood that all of thedisclosed systems and methods may be performed by a distributed system.Such a distributed system may be based on a local area network (LAN)operating within a single location, a wide area network (WAN)encompassing several locations, or an open systems network such as theInternet. It should be further understood that devices used inaccordance with the present invention may couple directly or indirectly,through wired or wireless communications to a global data network, andthe network may comprise a private network.

In an embodiment, the deployed sensors communicates via a short rangecommunications technology such as Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy,ZigBee, Ru-Bee, infrared, Wi-Fi, through a personal communicationsdevice such as a dedicated link device or through a mobilecommunications device to network 110. The link device may be a personalgateway for transmitting the sensor data to network 110. In anembodiment, the sensor data is communicated to network 230 which maystore the information in a proprietary storage or in a personal storage.Personal storage may include, but is not limited to a dedicated personalhardware space on a personal network, a home network a personal cloudstorage space or any storage space dedicated to the user. A proprietarystorage may include a storage provided by a communications provider, thesensor provider, the sensor platform provider or any combinationthereof. A key to the sensor network 100 is its ability to keep the datagathered by the sensors secure and private. In an embodiment, this isaccomplished by uniquely pairing sensors with link devices, personalcommunications devices and storage locations. By pairing the devicesthey can only communicate with their paired components, as such, thedata will remain secure throughout the network because the data can notbe intercepted by a device that has not previously been associated withthe specific system components.

In an embodiment, each sensor and link device has a unique multi-digitID number associated with it. The multi-digit ID number or “silicon ID”is hard wired into a hardware component that stores the ID number byhardware. In an embodiment, the ID number is hardwired into a chip usinga one time programmable (OTP) fuse method. In this embodiment, thecomponent has a number of fuses that are permanently blown to eitherrepresent a 0 or 1 and the code is this way burned by the number offuses into the component. In this manner, the hard wired ID number cannot be altered any way. Each component with a multi-digit ID number isunique based on the ID number they represent to the system. A databaseof the unique ID numbers may be maintained in a secure database. Thisallows the network to confirm the pairing of devices based on the uniqueID numbers. It is to be understood, that the secure database of IDnumbers must be maintained in such a manner as to not allow access tothe unique device ID data.

In an embodiment, once a user has paired a sensor with a link device orother device, the sensor data will be maintained by the user in a securestorage in network 230 or may be stored in the user's personal storage.This data may also be selectively shared with other members of thesensor network if the data owner so chooses. In this way, users mayshare and use data generated by other users, thereby creating a socialnetwork of sensor data users. This sharing of data allows others a viewinto the “real world” of their contacts on the sensor network, promptingan exchange of real world information about each other. By sharing databetween users, a user's “virtual” network is greatly expanded. Forexample, a user who wishes to know the humidity in a given area does notneed to place his or her own humidity sensor in that area if anotheruser is willing to share data from a humidity sensor already placed inthat area. This creation of an expanded “virtual” network expands thescope and amount of data available to a user and the social community asa whole.

Devices used in the sensor network may take any number of differentforms, including personal computers, notebook computers, palm-topcomputers, hand-held computers, smart devices, such as mobile phones,televisions, tablets, web appliances, and the like, and/or any devicewhich is capable of receiving and processing digital data via a networkconnection.

FIG. 2 depicts a view of the sensor platform 200. Sensor platform 200may comprise link device 210 which connects sensors 220 and otherwireless devices, via a short range communications link, such asBluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, ZigBee, Ru-Bee, infrared, or Wi-Fi tobackend systems via network 230, secure data storage 232, and a browserapplication 240. Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is genericallyused herein to refer to any short range communications link. Sensors 220and other devices may communicate via short range communications to apaired mobile device 205, such as a mobile phone or tablet which hasclient 202 installed.

Link device 210 is a personal privacy gateway and may communicate tonetwork 230 via Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, or any other over the air communicationsstandard. Link device 210 may have a GPS receiver for maintaining andreporting its location and may have a multi-frequency transceiver forreceiving and transmitting information wirelessly. Link device 210 maybe DC powered via USB port, induction, or any other charging means,and/or comprises an internal battery for back-up. Link device 210 mayinterface with switch 250, off-grid switch 255 or beacon 260 in additionto the various sensors 220.

Switch 250 is a remote controlled AC switch with energy measurementcapabilities. Switch 250 may allow other AC powered devices to beplugged into it, thereby providing power capabilities to the remotedevice. Off-grid switch 255 may be a remote controlled switch with 12VDC applications. Beacon 260 may be a sensor type device used forproximity applications. In an embodiment, the link device 210 enablesinterfacing of third party sensors.

Sensors

Sensors are an integral component of the present disclosure. Sensors aretypically used to measure one or more specific environmental conditionsbut may also include video cameras, audio devices, thermal imagingdevices, etc. The sensors in an embodiment communicate with a low energyshort range communications protocols, such as low energy Bluetooth (BLE)although other protocols are acceptable. Other protocols include but arenot limited to standard Bluetooth, ZigBee, Ru-Bee, Wi-Fi mobile datasuch as 3G/4G. In an embodiment, sensors are irreversible paired with alink device 210 when in use. This pairing ensures privacy and preventsunintended monitoring. The system level privacy functionality between asensor and the link device prevent a sensor's data from beingintercepted and/or otherwise compromised.

Sensors may include, but are not limited to relative humidity andtemperature, ambient light, vibration, motion, sound and leak althoughmany other sensors are contemplated. Some other sensors may include pH,moisture, video personal fitness, proximity, shock and pressure, timelapse, density, particle, visual, molecular, seismic, air quality, etc.In some embodiments, sensors may be mounted in mobile platforms likeflying autonomous sensor 285.

In some embodiments, the sensors have internal power sources such asrechargeable Lithium batteries, although other power sources such astraditional batteries (non-chargeable), capacitors, energy cells, orreal-time energy harvesting such as electromagnetic, radio waves orinduction may be contemplated. In an embodiment, the sensors comprise aninternal solar cell for recharging or directly powering the sensordevice 220.

In certain embodiments, the sensors have at least the following mainhardware features. A low energy short range communications interfacesuch as a BLE 4.1 interface which can be based on a CSR1012 type chip,although other chipsets and communication protocols are possible.

Each sensor may also have an internal antenna, memory such as a EEPROMto store application software as well as operating and other parameters.In various embodiments each sensor may have an internal power sourcesuch as a battery as well as circuitry to enable a chargingfunctionality. In an embodiment, an external power source is used,although due to the size of the sensors, such an external source is notthe primary power source. In an embodiment, each sensor will have itsown security and privacy functionality based on a unique internalauthentication code assigned to each sensor. This authentication numbermay be a 32 bit hard wired serial number although other security andprivacy criteria and configurations may be used.

In an embodiment, each sensor will be able to harvest solar energythrough the face of the sensor. The solar energy may be used to powerthe sensor directly and/or charge the internal power source. In someembodiments, the solar energy may be obtained from ambient light.Because of the need to harvest solar or ambient light, the face of thesensor may be configured to optimize the passage and/or collection ofsuch solar or ambient light. Alternatively and/or additionally thesensor may have a integrated portion which is able to process solarand/or ambient light.

In some embodiments, the sensors may be a temperature and/or relativehumidity sensor with the actual detector located on the inside of thesensor device. In an embodiment, the temperature and/or relativehumidity will be detected from the air. In an embodiment a leak detectorsensor may include a sensor that monitors and detects leakage orflooding of liquids. This may comprise an internal sensor, a surfacemounted sensors or an external sensor. Additionally and/oralternatively, sensors may have an external contacts utilizing resistivedetection between the contacts to detect leaks. Further, sensors mayhave external probes for placing in a location or environment, whereplacement of the sensor body is not possible.

In some embodiments, vibration sensors may be deployed within thenetwork. Vibration sensors may detect acceleration with an internalaccelerometer as well as 2D and 3D motion. Vibration detection may alsoinclude detection of position or some predefined pattern, motion oramplitude. In an embodiment, motion detectors are used to detect themotion of an object in proximity to the sensor. The detection may bebased on passive IR-detection with a passive IR sensor or active IRdetection. The motion sensor may also be based on thermal variations,changes in air current, interruptions with electromechanical beams orwaves.

An embodiment may include the use of an ambient light sensor which maydetect changes in and/or the strength of ambient light through the frontsurface of the sensor. An audio or sound sensor may be used in anembodiment to detect absolute or relative levels of sound or may detectchanges in the ambient sound levels. Such sensors may detect specificfrequencies, audio patterns, or vocal recognition.

In an embodiment, proximity beacons as well as control devices areconsidered sensor type devices and may also employ BLE and energyharvesting hardware techniques similar to the sensors. Control devicesmay be either switch based or off-grid based. Switch based controldevices may operate on AC voltage and may be employed to control otherdevices. Off-grid control devices may control devices used to controldevices requiring DC power.

The switch control device, in an embodiment, has a BLE chipset, aninternal antenna, memory, typically in the form of a EEPROM to store theapplication software and other parameters. The switch control device mayutilize power from an AC power supply when connected with a main powersource. In an embodiment, the switch control device will have one ormore AC-sockets or receptacles for power output to the controlleddevice. The output is remotely controlled over BLE. The switch controldevice may be used to measure consumed power, regulate, detect andcontrol power. Like sensors, the devices may comprise security andprivacy functions based on internal authentication codes andadditionally may comprise USB outputs for charging.

Off-grid switching devices may comprise a BLE chip set, an internalantenna, memory storage, and a DC power output. The DC output may beremotely controlled over the BLE connection. Like the switched controldevice, the off-grid device may monitor power usage, time of usage,consumption, etc. It may comprise security and privacy functionalitybased on a unique internal authentication code.

In an embodiment, sensors may be mobile either through dedicatedprogramming and/or managed control or through autonomous control. In anembodiment, one such sensor may be a flying autonomous sensor withsimilar flying qualities to an airborne platform based sensor. Theairborne based sensor may be mounted in an aerial platform intended forindoor use and in particular use, within a personal space, such as ahome, warehouse, business or office. The flying autonomous sensor may beprogramed to periodically take flight in a predetermined pattern tomonitor and or sense conditions within a room, building, indoorstructure, or any other controlled area. In an embodiment, the flyingautonomous sensor is powered through an on board battery or other powerdevice such as solar. The flying autonomous sensor may be chargedthorough an induction type circuit or may have an onboard battery. Itmay also be charged through solar, RF, turbine, magnetic induction, orany other methods. In an embodiment, when not in flight, the flyingautonomous sensor may rest on an induction type power charger and beavailable as required. The flying autonomous sensor may reside within aniche in a wall, on a shelf or in any other non-obtrusive location whennot in flight. In an embodiment, at a predetermined time or in responseto another stimulus, the flying autonomous sensor may self deploy togather the required sensor data. Data that may be collected in thismanner, may include but is not limited to, motion data, temperaturedata, ambient light data, noise data, or any other type of sensor data.In an embodiment, the flying autonomous sensor may gather and updatestructural 3-D data of an indoor space as well as maintaining visualaugmented reality of the indoor space. In this manner, due to itsability to change positions and views, the flying autonomous sensor isable to map and/or model the 3-D the space it is monitoring. Suchmonitoring enables the flying autonomous sensor to interface with anaugmented or virtual reality view of the space and allows the user oroperator to interface with it and the space utilizing augmented realityglasses for example. Another example of the use of the flying autonomoussensor is to monitor changes in the indoor space. For example, theflying autonomous sensor can track and follow up objects and theirmovements within a dedicated space based on chronological visualsreadings of the entire space and comparing that to past histories. Inthis manner, the flying autonomous sensor may be able to cover largerareas then fixed sensors and may further be able to isolate areas ofinterest to the user.

In an embodiment, the flying autonomous sensor may “learn” from thesensor data and accordingly adjust its flight path and or flightschedule. It is to be understood, that any small aerial or other flyingplatform may be used to deploy the sensor, or a series of flyingplatforms may be used alone or in conjunction to gather sensor data. Inan embodiment, a number of airborne platforms may be deployed to gathernoise data in a large area such as a warehouse, or air flow data. Bysimultaneously deploying multiple sensors, a clearer picture of theenvironment may be obtained. Similarly, in an office or homeenvironment, an airborne sensor mounted on a micro-airborne platform maybe used to help optimize, work flow, or space utilization, by trackingdata over longer periods of time and adjusting to changing conditions.The airborne sensor may also contain other sensors to aid with theflight such as IR sensors, IR cameras, code scanners that can read barcodes or QR codes, laser sensors to detect flight paths, or distancingdevices.

FIG. 3A depicts a typical sensor 30. In an embodiment, sensor 30 may bewaterproof and shockproof. FIG. 3B depicts a typical motion sensor witha motion window 36. Sensor 30 may comprise housing 31, face 32,indicator 33, latch 34 and push button 35. Housing 31 may be made fromany material such as metal, plastic, ceramic, carbon fiber, or acombination of materials. Housing 31 may be rectangular with roundedcorners although other shapes are possible. In an embodiment, housing 31encompassed both the frame and back cover in a single part althoughthere is no limitations on the number of components used to make uphousing 31. Some suitable materials for housing 31 include but are notlimited to aluminum, nickel, stainless steel, tin, copper or any othermachineable material.

Depending on the sensor's use, face 32 may be made from a solid materialor may be made from a number of different materials. For example, somematerials may be permeable to light, sound, temperature. In additionface 32 may be made from one or more materials with differentproperties. For example, face 32 may comprise sections that pass ambientlight to underlying solar cells, or may comprise sections that areactive solar cells. For example, area 37 which is aligned withunderlying solar cells may have different characteristics then otherportions of the face 32, although it may appear visually similar. In anembodiment, two different types of solar cells were used within the samesensor, one optimized for man made light and the other for naturaloutdoor sunlight. This way the sensor energy harvesting is optimizedboth for indoor and outdoor use. Similarly, area 37 may be an activesolar cell. Face 32 may be transparent to certain parts of the spectrumwhile opaque to others. Motion window 36 may be transparent to IRradiation and may be located directly above an internal IR sensor whilethe remainder of face 32 is impervious to IR radiation.

Indicator 33 may be an illuminated raised portion on face 32 and may bedescriptive to the sensors function. Additionally and/or alternatively,indicator 33 may be a source identifier such as a logo. Indicator 33 maybe illuminated by internal LEDs depending on the light guide solution.The intensity of the individual LEDs for the indicator may be controlledby internal circuitry and illumination may provide information about thehealth and status of the sensor. For example, in an embodiment, thesensor may provide an indication of power level, fault condition, orother functionality by LED color. In an embodiment, the LED pulses onand off during operation indicating sensor activity and alerts the userabout the sensor and when it is measuring and when it is idle.Additionally and or alternatively, the LED color is changeable by theuser so that the sensor can better fit to individual interior designs.

Latch 34 may be any suitable latch point that may be used for mountingsensor 30. Push button 35 may be a single push-button used to poweron/off the sensor as well as for identification during the pairing ofsignals with link device 210. In an embodiment, push button 35 is adouble action tactile switch with the first position used for pairingand second position is power ON/OFF. Other or additional switches andtypes may be used without departing from the present disclosure.

FIG. 3C depicts a cross sectional view of a typical sensor 30 in anembodiment of the present disclosure. Sensor 30 includes housing 31,printed circuit board (PCB) 310 including a solar cell, a middle frame320, a sensor gasket 330, face 32, sensor 360 and battery 370. PCB 310may include all the BLE and power harvesting circuitry and control. Itis to be understood, that the term BLE as used herein refers to andincludes other low power short range communications links and is notlimited to Bluetooth 4.1 or any other version of Bluetooth. Sensorgasket 330 aids with the sealing of the face 32 to the housing 31 andmay ensure a watertight seal. In an embodiment, sensor 360 may be anyone of the disclosed sensors, such as temperature, pressure, ambientlight, motion, leak, etc. Battery 370 may be a power source, and may berechargeable, replaceable, or disposable. Battery 370 may be made from avariety of materials, such as AgZn, Lithium ion, NiCd, NiMH, NiZn,Alkaline, Lithium, Magnesium, Mercury oxide, Nickel oxyhydroxide,Silver-oxide (silver-zinc), Zinc-air, Zinc-carbon, Zinc-chloride.

FIG. 4 depicts the main component of a sensor circuit board 40 for atypical sensor. Internally, in an embodiment, the sensor's electronicsassembly may be on a single internal PCB which may include an antenna.Additionally and/or alternatively, the circuitry may be broken up byfunctionality and the antenna may be incorporated into housing 31 or maybe mounted on housing 31. In an embodiment, the sensor 30 may includesolar cell(s) assemblies that may be used to harvest solar energy viathe front surface. Printed circuit board assembly 40 may be locatedunder face 32 and may include all the necessary circuitry and solarcells required to operate the sensor 30. Typically, sensor circuit board40 includes a BLE chipset 41, sensor components 42 and energy andcharging components 43. A rechargeable battery (not shown) may belocated below the PCBA. In addition, in some embodiments, the sensorcomponents 42 may be separate from the PCBA 40 and may even be surfacemounted on sensor 30.

Ideally, in an embodiment, the sensor requires a battery that can becharged and discharged in temperatures from −30° C. to +60° C. and whichwill maintain a charge for at least three years and which can functionon a single charge for up to 6 months, however, other lifecycles arepossible. In an embodiment, the battery capacity is estimated to beabout 300 mAh with charging. This requirement is based on a projectionof six months of operational time without charging. While shorter andlonger charging and discharging periods are acceptable. Variouslithium-ion and lithium pro batteries may be used. Additionally,vanadium pentoxide lithium coin batteries may also be used as well assuper capacitor type batteries. In an embodiment, NiMH batteries may beused to power the senor.

Sensors 30 may be controlled with the BLE chipset. In an embodiment, theBLE subsystem is based on a CSR1012 component from CSR LLC, whichincludes a 16-bit processor and single mode Bluetooth Low Energy RFtransmitter. FIG. 5 depicts the main components of a typical BLE chipset. System RAM 51 is typically, 64 KB of integrated RAM supports theRISC MCU and is shared between the ring buffers used to hold data foreach active connection, general-purpose memory required by the Bluetoothstack and the user application. Internal ROM 52 has 64 KB of internalROM. This memory is provided for system firmware implementation. If theinternal ROM holds valid program code, on boot-up, this is copied intothe program RAM. Microcontroller 53 is an interrupt controller and eventtimer that run the Bluetooth software stack and control the Bluetoothradio and external interfaces. A 16-bit RISC microcontroller is used forlow power consumption and efficient use of memory. Programmable I/OPorts 54 may have 12 lines of programmable bidirectional I/O poweredfrom VDD_PADS. PIO lines are software-configurable as weak pull-up, weakpull-down, strong pull-up or strong pull-down. Any of the PIO lines canbe configured as interrupt request lines or to wake the IC from deepsleep mode. WAKE-input shall be used wake the IC from Dormant orHibernate states. The chipset may also comprise an LED flasher/PWMmodule battery monitor to monitor and report battery status to thesoftware, a temperature sensor, and other control power circuitry.

In an embodiment, the RF portion is Bluetooth® v4.1 compliant andemploys a −92.5 dBm Bluetooth low energy receiver. The BLE chipsetrequires an external EEPROM for the application software. In anembodiment, software is upgradable via over the air transmission.

The specified privacy and security requirements for the present systemrequire a unique identifier in each node including in all sensors and/orswitch devices. In an embodiment, the sensors each have a unique serialnumber that is used for irreversible pairing with the communicationsdevice 205 or link device 210. In an embodiment, the sensor uses a onetime programmable (OTP) memory that stores the identifier keys.

FIG. 6 depicts the internal sensor module 42 within sensor 30 with anadditional external processor 60. In some embodiments, a separate lowpower processor 60 is added to the sensor to increase processing power.The additional processor does not impact the basic BLE implementationand energy harvesting. Power management may also be implemented in thehost processor 60 to control its own execution and sensor components.

In an embodiment, sensors require very long operational time and solarcell charging to achieve it. The typical sensor power consumption isabout 0.1 mA. The solar cell, in an embodiment was able to harvestenergy at least 5 or 10 times the consumption requirement to extend thesensor operational time. Accordingly, in an embodiment, the solar cellshould harvest a minimum of 1 mA in normal room light with additional ICmonitors on the input voltage to prevent overloading of the cell.

In an embodiment, solar charging is not used and the sensor can operateon primary battery power only. To ensure the desired extended life, theprimary battery requires a low self discharge rate, high capacity andwide temperature range. An example of such a battery is an Eve batteriesEF702338, which is a (Li-SOCI2) cell from EVE® batteries. Based on theexpected power consumption 2-3 years life time could be expected fromsuch a battery.

In an embodiment of a temperature and humidity sensor, the temperatureand relative humidity measurement were done with a single sensorcomponent although individual sensor components may be incorporated intoa single sensor housing. The sensor polled by the BLE reported the datavia the secure link device 210. The data range was limited only by therange of the sensor selected. It will be understood by those skilled inthe art that the system is not limited to a specific sensor and mayemploy sensors that works within the design parameters of the system.

In an embodiment, a leak sensor based on resistive measurement betweenspaced contacts was used. In an embodiment, the contacts were fedthrough the bottom of the sensor device and mount on the surface of thedevice. The sensor itself was placed in close proximity to an area of anexpected leak. When a leak does occur the resistance of water (or otherliquid) is presumably lower than the resistance of air or of thematerial the sensor is in contact with, i.e., concrete, tile, wood,fiberglass, or plastic. The change of resistance causes the sensor torecord a change. Additionally and/or alternatively, a cable accessorywith an external probe may be used that includes detector electrodes. Insuch an embodiment, the sensor may be mounted with the external leadsplaced in the area of interest. The leads can be removable from thesensor or may be integrated into the sensor. In an embodiment, thesensor has both surface mounted and removable leads.

In an embodiment a motion sensor was used. The motion sensor utilizesone or more pyroelectric infrared sensors to detect motion in thesensor's field of view. The sensor may comprise of one, two, three ormore detection areas. The sensitivity of the sensor is relative to thephysical area of the sensor. In an embodiment, the sensors utilizesdifferent software and different processing based on the number and sizeof the sensors. If a detector has one detection element for example, thesoftware keeps track of the previous reading and implements some dynamicsetting of the change in the threshold level. In the case of multipledetection areas the reading from each area can be compared to each otherto detect motion. This gives some flexibility in detection algorithms.In a motion sensor with multiple detection elements, the individualelements may be polled in sequence. Additionally and/or alternatively,each sensor element, may trigger an interrupt when the signal exceedspre-defined threshold levels. In a motion sensor, the sensor window 36in the front panel, must have good transmittance for wavelengths acrossthe full spectrum and most preferable in the infrared to ultra violetrange. In some embodiments, the window and the sensor have additionaloptical features to collect light from the desired area. In anembodiment, the lens or face and any specialty regions may be optimizedand require different properties to operate based on the sensoroperation. Separate units allow the uses to change the cover materialinto anything special that the sensor unit might require.

In an embodiment, an ambient light sensor detects illumination andambient light on a scale of lumens/square meter or LUXs. In anembodiment, the sensor can detect from pitch dark to direct sunlight ora range from 0 to 100,000 Lux.

In an embodiment, a vibration sensor utilizes a low power 3Daccelerometer such as those available from Freescale or Analog Devices.The sensor components interface with the BLE chipset and consume verylimited power.

In an embodiment, the sound sensor can detect sound pressure (volume)and compare it to predefined threshold limit. The sensor's electronicsmay comprise a microphone, microphone amplifier, rectifier/integratorstage and comparator and buffer amplifier depending on the signalprocessing. In an embodiment, the sound sensor may require a separatehost processor. In an embodiment, if more advanced signal processing isneeded the audio signal may be interfaced to a host processor that hasfaster sampling rates and more memory available for the audio samples.

In an embodiment, a control switch may be implemented as a sensor andwill be based on the BLE chipset. Instead of requiring it to use solarpower or energy harvesting, the control switch may use a regulator AC/DCcircuit to use the power from the main source. Because of the additionaland different circuitry, the dimensions (width and length) may bedifferent than the other sensors.

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of the circuitry of a switch device.Switch device 70 includes input power module 71 and communications andcontrol portion 72. Power module 71 comprises AC input, surgeprotection, current sampling, and AC output control. Communications andcontrol portion 72 comprises BLE module and a microcontroller. The powersupply for the switch is regulated from the AC-input via power moduleportion 71. Communications and control portion 72 may comprise a USBcharging interface with a regulated 5V output with maximum currentlimited to 1.5 A.

Off-grid switch 255, may be a DC based switch based on the BLE chipset.Energy harvesting and solar charging are not required and may bereplaced with a 12/2.5 VDC regulator circuit. FIG. 8 depicts anembodiment of an off grid switch for controlling a DC output. The inputpower 81 supplied from a 12 VDC is fed through a series resistor. Anamplifier 82, powered from 12V is used the measure the voltage acrossthe resistor and scale the voltage to the ADC's input range of about0-1.3V. The off switch grid input requires surge and reverse polarityprotection circuits 83. The 12V input is connected via a relay 84 to 12Voutput. The device can limit the maximum output current to 5 A. In anembodiment, semiconductor switches were used.

In an embodiment, the sensors 220 include a 2.4 GHZ ISM band antennaalthough antennas in other frequency bands and ranges may be used.Additionally and/or alternatively, the antenna may be mounted internallyto the device, may be mounted on the PCB, may be incorporated into thecase of the device or may be external to the sensor device. In anembodiment, the antenna is integrated into part of the PCB. In anembodiment, a ceramic antenna component was used because of insufficientspace within the device.

In an embodiment, the sensor 220 supports irreversible pairing with alink device 210, that requires a special authentication circuit includedin the design. The link device 210 manages data privacy matters on ahardware basis by managing access and controlling the sharing of itemsdefined as private to external networks. The link device 210 may routeinformation to a personal cloud or device instead of an external cloudor device based on user selections and preferences. Further, in anembodiment, the link device 210 allows the system hardware to instantlystop sharing data at any given point of time at the request of the user.The authentication circuit has a pre-programmed unique serial numberthat may be from 10 to 128 digits, preferable with a unique serialnumber between 30 and 40 digits. In an embodiment, there will also beadditional product/device specific keys that are programmed into the onetime programmable (“OTP”) memory of the authentication circuit. In anembodiment, if unique Bluetooth addresses are needed they can be basedon the authentication keys and user ID. The specific key needed forpairing of sensor device 220 may be delivered with each sensor and linkdevice in printed form. Additionally and/or alternatively, the key maybe delivered in an e-mail, voice mail, pin code, or other secure form oftransmission. In addition, each sensor 220 may have a unique serialnumber which may be copied to EEPROM for use by the internal circuitry.It may also be laser etched or otherwise marked on the device itself.

In an embodiment, the link device 210 is a connectivity devicecomprising a BLE 4.1 communications module, a Wi-Fi 802.11communications module, a 3G/4G wireless modem, a GPS chipset, aninternal antenna for all wireless modules, a CPU with memory forsoftware and data buffering purposes, and an internal battery andcharging functionality. In some embodiments, the Wi-Fi system in thelink device is capable of functioning as a wireless router for heavydata traffic trough the link device. In an embodiment, this is used, forexample, to stream high definition video from a source to itsdestination.

As seen in FIGS. 9A-9C, the link device 210 comprises a link bezel orface 211, a link frame with antenna 212, a light guide 213, a hardwareassembly 214 such as a printed circuit board, a power button 215, a caseor frame 216, a sim card slot 217, a battery 218 and a USB connector219.

The link device 210 provides security and privacy functions and may bepowered from a DC supply via USB or operate from power stored in battery218. The link bezel may be any RF transparent/translucent material suchas glass, polycarbonate, plastic, or any other type of material. Linkframe 212 is an internal frame and may be metal, plastic, ceramic andmay have an antenna integrally molded into or mounted on the surface ofthe structure. Light guide 213 may be any material, such as plastic thatcan conduct LED light to the surface of link bezel 211. The light guide213 may provide the user with a visual indicator of the status of thelink device 210. Hardware assembly 214 may be a single PCB or multipleinterconnected PCBs. It may be a single layer board or a multi-layerboard. It may contain all the RF, power regulation, charging, control,memory and any other required circuitry or chipsets. Power button 215may be used to power the link device 210 on and off or place the devicein standby or power save modes. Frame 216 may be metal, plastic, orceramic and forms the body of the device. Sim slot 217 allows for theinsertion of a sim card either by push-push or a tray type card. Battery218 is a rechargeable and/or replaceable battery and provides sufficientDC power to link device 210 for operation. Link device 210 may also havea standard or micro USB connector 219 for communication with thehardware assembly 214 and/or charging of battery 218.

The link device 210 may have one or more buttons 219, a capacitancescreen, a touch screen, a pressure screen or any other input interface.Additionally and/or alternatively, it may allow for connection withanother device, such as a keypad, through the micro-USB port 219 forprogramming and/or trouble shooting. Additionally and/or alternatively,it may have a reset button and or a button for pairing of Bluetoothand/or connecting to WLAN. In an embodiment, a double action tactileswitch is used. The link device 210 may have an illuminated logo 213 onthe top cover. Lighting is done by RGB LEDs.

The link device 210 may have a USB port 219. The main use for it will bethe charging of the device and or updating software, firmware, or anyother debug or data interface. USB port 219 may be used for programmingof the device and debugging. In an embodiment the USB interface 219support USB 2.0 modes. The link device may have a SIM card holder 217that interfaces directly to the cellular modem. External power may besupplied to the link device 210 via USB interface 219. The nominal inputmay be about 5V /1.5 A max. Interfacing to AC-supply and vehicles isdone by using an external power supply.

FIG. 10 depicts a high level block diagram of the hardware assembly 214of link device 210, comprising a processor and memory section 1000, apower supply and power management module 1010, a communications module1020 which may comprise WLAN and Bluetooth communications capabilities,cellular modem/GNSS communications module 1030, a logic/debugging module1040 and additional buss/internal communications hardware.

In an embodiment, the link device 210 operates on an embedded Linuxplatform. An Atmel SAMA5D31 processor was chosen to execute the Linuxoperating system and application. In an embodiment, mobile DDR SDRAMmemory was used for data memory for the processor. Such memory requiresvery low self refresh current. NAND flash memory was selected to be usedas code memory. In an embodiment, the memories selected were ofindustrial quality because of the operating temperature range of thelink device 210.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the interconnections of hardware assembly214. In an embodiment, the processor includes a fuse controller. In thatblock there are 192 bits for user application. The link devices willneed a unique serial number. In an embodiment, about 20 of the 192 bitsare used for serial number (incremental number), a few bits may beutilized to identify the product or product variant. Additionally, ifthese numbers can be used to generate the manufacturer specific part ofMAC-code (3 bytes). The other 3 bytes of MAC-code contain theOrganization Unique Identifier (OUID). The MAC-codes can also bepre-programmed in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth components. IMEI-codes may also bepre-programmed in the cellular modem.

In an embodiment, the processor supported the following safety andsecurity features. power-on reset cells, independent watchdog, maincrystal clock failure detection, write protection for the registers,Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA1, SHA224, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512), memorymanagement unit security, true random number generator, an encryptionengine that supports AES: 256-bit, 192-bit, 128-bit Key Algorithmcompliant with FIPS PUB 197 Specifications, two-key or three-keyalgorithm compliant with FIPS PUB 46-3 Specifications and a secure bootsolution.

The processor and software, in an embodiment, support OTA downloading ofthe firmware. The link device 210 and any peripheral sensors 220 mustsupport irreversible pairing. The identifiers (serial number is storedidentifier and is generated in the software) related to it may be storedin a OTP-block of memory. The processor may have a watchdog function forautomatic re-start or reboot. The reset logic will be able to boot, whensupply voltage is connected.

The cellular interface 1010 may be implemented using a SimCom SIM5360module or any other appropriate module and should accommodate at aminimum a wide range of standard cellular communications frequencyranges and standards such as at least the following:

Frequency Band Receiving Receiving Transmission GSM850 869~894 MHz824~849 MHz E-GSM900 925~960 MHz 880~915 MHz DCS1800 1805~1880 MHz1710~1785 MHz PCS1900 1930~1990 MHz 1850~1910 MHz WCDMA 2100 2110~2170MHz 1920~1980 MHz WCDMA1900 1930~1990 MHz 1850~1910 MHz WCDMA 850869~894 MHz 824~849 MHz WCDMA 900 925~960 MHz 880~915 MHz

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a cellular subsystem 1030 and theinterconnections between processer 1000 and cellular modem 1020. FIG. 12also depicts the antennas for the cellular and GPS communicationsystems. It is understood that one or more antennas may be used toservice multiple frequencies and frequency ranges.

FIG. 13 depicts the WLAN/Bluetooth subsystem 1300. Subsystem 1300includes a processor 13010 such as an A5 core processor or similarcapabilities, BLE transceiver 1320, such as a CSR8811 bluecoreprocessor, and a Wi-Fi Module 1330. The WLAN module 1330 should be IEEE802.11b/g/n compliant or equivalent, although other standards areusable. The WLAN module 1330 should operate in the 2.4 to 2.472 GHzrange and have 1 to 13 channels. In an embodiment the data rates rangefrom 1, 2, 5.5, 11 Mbps for the , 802.11b data rates to 6, 9, 12, 18,24, 36, 48, and 54 Mbps for the 802.11g data rates to CSO-7, 400/800ns72.2, 65, 58.5, 57.8, 52, 43.3, 39, 28.9, 26, 21.7, 19.5, 14.4, 13, 7.2,6.5 Mbps for the 802.11n data rates.

The modulation may be DSSS (CCK, DQPSK, DBPSK) and OFDM (BPSK, QPSK,16QAM, 64QAM). The WLAN module 1330 should support IEEE 802.11e QoS,IEEE 802.11i advanced security and have multiple power saving modes tomaximize battery life. The WLAN module 1330 may communicate in any oneof the following modulation strategies, including, but not limited toGSM/GPRS/DCS/PCS/WCDMA/GPS.

In operation RF Performance and power consumption may be as follows:

Parameter Test conditions Value 802.11/b Transmit output 12/5.5/11 Mbps+17 dBm power Minimum input 11 Mbps CCK, FER < 8% −85 dBm levelsensitivity at PSDU length of 1024 b Maximum input 11 Mbps CCK, FER < 8%+5 dBm capability level at PSDU length of 1024 bytes 802.11/g Transmitoutput 54 Mbps OFDM +15 dBm power Minimum input 54 Mbps OFDM, FER < 10%−70 dBm level sensitivity at PSDU length of 1024 bytes Maximum input 54Mbps OFDM, FER < 10% −13 dBm level capability at PSDU length of 1024bytes 802.11/n Transmit output MCS6 +12 dBm power Minimum input MCS7(FER < 10% at PSDU −68 dBm level sensitivity length of 1024 bytes)Maximum input MSC7 (FER < 10% at PSDU −17 dBm level capability length of1024 bytes) Power consumption (examples) 11 Mbps Continuous packet, PSDU221 mA @ 3V3 transmit@+17 dBm length of 1024 Bytes (958 us), 120 mA @1V8 packet interval 50 μs 11 Mbps receive −85 dBm. Continuous packet, 10 mA @ 3V3 PSDU length of 1024 Bytes, 133 mA @ 1V8 packet interval 50μs Deep sleep   13 uA @ 3V3   75 uA @ 1V8

The BLE transceiver 1320 should be a low power device with an externalantenna. The software may be based on CSR Synergy protocol stack andLinux drivers and protocol stack. The host interface will be 4-bit SDIOwith 3.3V signaling. The maximum clock rate may be about 50 MHz.

In addition to SDIO some GPIO signals (PIO) may be needed (co-existence,reset, standby). The antenna may be external to the device and may havea 50 Ωoutput impedance.

In an embodiment, BLE transceiver 1320 was an APM8811 dual modeBluetooth module or CSR8811 component. The main features of module 1320are network standard dual-mode Bluetooth/Bluetooth low energy radiooperating in the 2400 to 2480MHz (79 channel) frequency range for basicrate and EDR, 2400 to 2480MHz (40 channel) for BLE. Supported modulationincludes GFSK and π/4 DPSK & 8DPSK for basic rate & EDR GFSK for BLE.The maximum RF transmission power is typically about 6 dBm and in arange of about 4-7.5 dBm. The receiver sensitivity should be about −85.5dBm range with a maximum of about −70 dBm, LE

The GPS/GLONASS for the cellular module supports both A-GPS and S-GPS,and then provides three operating modes: mobile-assisted mode,mobile-based mode and standalone mode. The GPS Receiver should be a16-channel, GPS L1 Frequency (1575.42MHz) with about an update rate ofabout 1 Hz; with a GPS data format NMEA-0183; a tracking sensitivity ofabout -159 dBm (GPS -158 dBm (GLONASS); a cold-start sensitivity ofabout -148 dBm, an accuracy of 2.5 m with an external antenna.

The link device 210 may include several internal antennas. In anembodiment, penta-band cellular modem antenna were used at 850, 900,1800, 1900, 2100 MHz frequencies. In another embodiment, a tri-bandantenna, of 850 and 900 MHz are needed in the US and 2100 MHz fortesting purposes. A 2.4 GHz ISM band antenna may be required for WLANand Bluetooth. A separate or combined antenna may be used to service oneor more modules. The GNSS (GPS) may require a separate antenna. Allantennas may be internal or surface mounted.

The link device 210 may also have a persistent MAC-addresses for WLANand BLE and IMEI-code for the cellular modem. These codes may begenerated by software i.e. OUID+device/port id+serial number. 24-bitsare available for OUID and 24 bits for custom code. The IMEI-code may bepre-programmed in the cellular modem.

In operation, the sensors 220, switches 250, off-grid switches 255 orbeacons 260 are irreversibly paired with the link device 210 or pairedmobile device 205. Each sensor 220, switch 250, off-grid switch 255 orbeacon 260 has a unique silicon ID that ensures that the sensors 220,switches 250, off-grid switches 255 or beacons 260 can not be used byany other user once it is paired with a link device 210 or mobile device205.

In an embodiment for example, a user obtains a sensor 220 and a linkdevice 210. Using a device, such as mobile 205 or tablet, the user mayinstall a client 202 or application on the mobile device 205. The clientor application 202 once installed, locates the link device using the BLElink. Next, client 202 via mobile device 205 may scan a papercertificate containing a unique ID for the device and associated withthat specific link device 210. The paper certificate may come with thedevice or may be sent via a secure link for the user to print afterregistering the product with the manufacturer. After scanning orphotographing the ID certificate, the client 202 may ask about the userand/or the device or both. Once this information has been entered forthe link device 210, the client 202 inquires about sensors 220 and otherlinked devices such as switches 250, off-grid switches 255 or beacons260.

Once the information from each certificate is entered via the respectivepaper certificates, the link device 210 will only communicate with thepaired sensors 220, switches 250, off-grid switches 255 or beacons 260.Additionally and/or alternatively, a sensor 220, switch 250, off-gridswitch 255 or a beacon 260 may also communicate with the mobile deviceand/or tablet that was used for the original pairing. The sensors 220,switches 250, off-grid switches 255 or beacons 260 will not communicatedirectly with any other devices outside their limited personal network.

The unique ID information may be presented in the form of a card, a textmessage, a QR code, a bar code, or any other identifying method. Thismay be included when the product is received or may be subsequentlytransmitted securely to the user. It is to be understood, that withoutthe ID certificates that contain the unique ID for each link device 210and sensor type device (220, 250, 255, 260) the pairing with the devicesvia short range communication such as Bluetooth would not be possiblebecause each link device and sensor device has a hard wired uniquesilicon ID chip incorporated into the device. It is this unique pairingthat provides the security for the sensor data. Unlike traditionalBluetooth devices, which are detectable to another Bluetooth device,once the sensors are paired with the link device they are no longerdetectable to any other link device or other Bluetooth device.

FIG. 14 illustrates the steps in the initial pairing sequence. At step1400, client 202 is installed on device 205. Installation may include awired or wireless installation and may be delivered in any suitableformat. Client 202 may be available on-line from the vendor. The client202 may be download from an AppStore such as the Apple® store of GooglePlay®. Client 202 does not require any proprietary sensors to operateand may operate with sensors provided by 3rd party sensor providers.However, without the link device 220 the connection to the 3rd partysensors will not be secure and will not provide privacy features for theuser. At step 1405 the client 202 may require an account to be set upprior to use. An account may be set up via a installation wizard. In anembodiment, the user may be asked for personal information such as aphone number, e-mail address, etc. The user may be prompted to create apassword and an account user name. The user may then receive an accountconfirmation code trough SMS or other return communication which furtherrequires a user to confirm the account.

In an embodiment, the user may be asked to add a link device at step1407. If there is a link device 210 to install at step 1410, theactivation wizard will instruct the user to press an activation buttonon the link device or otherwise utilize a WPS signal so that the linkdevice lights and starts blinking and is ready to communicate with themobile device 205. The wizard may guide the user through the set upprocess. At step 1410 a BLE or Wi-Fi connection between the link device210 and the mobile device 205 is established. At step 1415, once theconnection is established, a connection with a remote storage area 232or database, such as a server or cloud storage 230 may be established.The secure storage may be provided by the system provider or may bepersonal to the user.

In an embodiment, at step 1420 the activation wizard may ask the user totake a photograph or scan the ID Certificate with the identifier thatwas included or otherwise provided with the link device 210. Theinstaller may connect via encrypted short range interface, such as BLEor WIFI between the mobile 205 and the link device 210 to verify thelink device's unique silicone ID. At step 1425 the installer wizardchecks the providers storage 232 to confirm that the unique38-digit-secret-code on the scanned certificate matches the code onsilicone ID chip in the link device 210 to confirm the product ID in theproviders libraries/database. This confirmation verifies that the linkdevice is authorized as part of the provider's family of products in theproviders secure library. In this manner, if it was an unauthorized use,e.g., if it was stolen, the system would know and would not complete theauthorization.

Additionally and/or alternatively, the installer wizard willautomatically check the unique user ID on the mobile device 205 andpairs the SMS verified account and password on the providers storage232. It also verifies the user's mobile device 205 ID and provides linkdevice 210 authorization on the provider's storage with the uniquesilicone ID authorization in the link device. The installer wizard maythen pair the three items, link device 210, secure storage area onstorage 232, and mobile device 205, together into one inseparablypaired, encrypted and closed communication system. Such a systemprohibits further outside items from connecting to any of these paireddevices. The paired item keep verifying each member of the system, viathe unique ID, with each use and any changes can only be made by havingall items accessible at the same time as well as the required paper IDcertificates available for re-scanning.

In some embodiments, if the user does not have a link device, the usermay complete the set-up installer wizard and skip the set up of the linkdevice 210. The established account will allow the user to search andmonitor data on the client 202 that is shared to the user by otherusers. The user may also add supported third-party devices to theaccount, but they will appear as “unverified” and “unsecured” devices inthe system for all the other users because they are not connected vialink device 210 which provides the security and privacy features.

It is to be understood, that once the user has the client 202 (with orwithout a link device), the user will be able to add views such as“activity views” from an activity library which will allow the user tostart following and reporting on the data provides by various sensorsand sensor data streams. These activities may be prepared activitieswhich require a specific sensor or may be new activities the usercreates. With these views the user may view the activities of varioussensors in real time and create a life stream of the user's dailyactivities.

In order for the activity to report data the user needs at least onesensor to report the selected activity. The client 202 may detect whichsensor are needed to report the activity and may offer the user to addthe necessary sensor, purchase a sensor, use a 3rd party sensor, or useanother user's shared sensor in the system if that user has chosen toshare it with the current user. Once the required sensor is identifiedby selecting the sensor, the system will automatically start reportingthe newly added activity if the sensor has previously been added to thesystem. If the sensor is new and has not yet been added to the network,the system at step 1435 may launch a sensor set-up wizard that starts byasks to set up the link device 210. If the link device 210 is previouslyset up, the sensor set-up wizard, at step 1440 will establish aconnection with the sensor 220 by having the user press the activationbutton on the particular sensor 220. The sensor icon 33 starts flashingin response. At step 1445 The set-up wizard asks to scan or otherwiseinput the ID on the paper certificate that came along the new sensor orwas otherwise obtained. Once scanned, the set-up wizard connects thesensor via close range link, such as BLE and checks the sensor's uniquesilicone ID to confirm it matches the scanned ID. At step 1450 thescanned or photographed information is conveyed to the providers storageand the 38-digit-secret-code on the paper certificate is matched to thesame code on silicone ID chip in the sensor. At that point, the sensoris classified as an authorized part of the provider's service on theprovider's storage security libraries (e.g. if it was stolen, the systemknew it was reported stolen and hence would not be authorized). Becauseof the pairing of the sensors 220 the link device 210, the mobile device205 and the remote storage 232, the sensor data is only accessible tothe user and those the user may choose to share the data with.

Each time a user wishes to add sensors 220 or link devices 210, thepairing routine will be repeated. In this way, the user can expand andgrow their sensor network by providing more and different sensors atdifferent locations.

FIG. 15 illustrates the daisy chain interconnectivity of various sensors220, switches 250, off-grid switches 255 or beacons 260 and a linkdevice 210. Each sensor 220, switch 250, off-grid switch 255 or beacon260 can communicate and relay information to/from any other switch 250,off-grid switches 255 or beacon 260 using short range connectivity suchas BLE. In this manner, the distance between any one single switch 250,off-grid switch 255 or beacon 260 and a paired link device 210 or pairedmobile 205 can be greatly extended. Additionally and/or alternatively,because of the daisy chain capability, the power expended by eachindividual sensor 220, switch 250, off-grid switch 255 or beacon 260 canbe greatly reduced because each on only has to transmit over a shortrange.

FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate other daisy chain patterns and scenariosthat extend the range of communications between the link device 210 andthe respective individual sensors. It is to be understood that sensors220 may be any type of sensors or may be switches 250, off-grid switches255 or beacons 260 as well as any paired device within the system,including but not limited to a personal mobile device. It is to beunderstood, that the sensors 220 and link devices 210 are able toestablish and configure the shortest route between sensors and linkdevices to transmit data and establish connections thereby avoidingunnecessary transit distances and unnecessary gate ways. This is becauseeach sensor 220 and link device 210 has a smart location due to itsonboard GPS signal and is able to triangulate its location in 3D spacerelative to adjacent sensors and relative to a GPS signal.

In an embodiment, sensors 210 use the BLE chips to triangulate theirlocation in relation to each other. Accordingly, a mesh can be createdbetween any three devices, sensors 220, 3rd party supported sensors,link devices 210, or mobile device 205, that have been paired to thesystem. The triangulation is in 3D space and is accurate up to about 1-2meters, and preferably to about 20 cm. The position of any paired devicecan be measured relative to an established sensor mesh within the spacewhere the mesh is established. The mesh may be set up without having aGPS from the link device 210 or mobile device 205 active. When GPS isnot present or available, the mesh location will position all sensorsrelative to each other within the space. Fixed location sensorsestablish and know their positions after the first time they are set upand can then locate other sensors within that space. As additionalsensors are added, they can know their relative positions to each other.Further, once a GPS enabled device like a mobile device 205 or linkdevice 210 is added and paired, the sensor and the other sensors in themesh can accurately establish their position in relation to a GPS basedmap like Google maps. Additionally, and or alternatively, the Wi-Ficonnection on the link device 210 and other wireless connections withthe link device 210 contribute to the positioning.

FIG. 17 illustrates the sharing of sensor data in accordance with thepresent disclosure. A user A may have a sensor network 1710 comprisingfour sensors 220 and a link device 210. User B may have a separatesensor network 1720 comprising three sensors 220-b and a link device210-b, although more or less sensors could be used. User's A and B canbe geographically separated by thousands of miles or may be close inproximity. User A's sensors collects information and conveys thatinformation to a secure storage 1730. Secure storage 1730 may be asecure location on a provider's network, may be a secure cloud storageon a provider's network or may be a secure cloud storage on a private orpersonal network. It is to be understood, that the communicationsbetween user A's link device 210 to secure storage 1730 may involve oneor more wired or wireless networks. Similarly, user B's information willbe collected by sensor's 220-b and conveyed via link device 210-b tosecure storage 1740.

Because of the pairing between sensors 220, link device 210 and securestorage 1730, no other user will be able to view or intercept the sensorinformation. If however, user A and B wish to share some or all of thedata collected by their respective sensors, they will be able to do sobecause they are all within secure network 1700. In this manner, user Bwill be able to view the activities of user A's sensors and vice versa.For example, in an embodiment, if one of user A's sensor's 220 ismonitoring humidity within a building, and user A shares access to thatsensor with user B, then user B will be able to view that activity fileeven though the information is not being gather by one of the sensors220-b within user B's network 1720. By allowing sharing across securestorages with specific users or making the information public to allusers allows other users to expand and grow their activity views withoutadding individual sensors. Additionally, such sharing fosters the socialnetworking nature of the present disclosure because it allows users toshare information about their real world lives.

FIG. 18 represents user A's and user B's sensor networks including thecommunications protocols. As seen in FIG. 18, communications that occurbelow line 1750 between the various sensors and the link devices 210 orthe mobile device 205 are all short range communications such as BLE,although any type of low power communication may be used. Communications1755 a-c, between the link devices 210, the mobile device 205 and thepersonal storage spaces 1730 and 1740 may be any wireless communicationtechnology including, but not limited to Wi-Fi, WCDMA, CDMA, GSM, UMTS,TDMA, etc. and may be based on any telecommunications or wirelessstandard including but not limited to 3G, 4G, LTE, GPRS, EDGE, etc.Satellites 1765 may global positioning satellites and may communicatewith any or all of the components within sensor networks 1710 and 1720via signals 1760.

The sensor data generated in sensor networks 1710 and 1720 will be sentto the personal storage of users A and B respectively. Any selectedsubset of the data may be securely shared within secure network 1700 andwill remain secure from any outside user. Only user's with devicesregistered with the provider will have access to the data stored withinsecure area 1700. In this manner, in an embodiment, the sensor system isclosed to outside users. In contrast, data collected from a sensorprovided by a 3rd party will not be stored within secure area 1700 butwill be generally accessible to all user's at large.

In an embodiment, users are able to share and/or view their sensornetworks and/or activities on a mobile device from anywhere in theworld. In this manner, user's may create uses and activities for thevarious sensors and track their sensor data or “life stream”.

FIG. 19A depicts an embodiment where various sensor networks appear on aworld map displayed, for example, on a mobile device running anapplication such as the Zen-Me™ browser from Zen-Me®. Map 1900 may begenerated using any standard mapping application such as Google Maps™ orGoogle Earth™ and may include all or a portion of the world view. Icons1910, 1920 and 1930 represent three different available sensor networksthat are available for viewing by this user. Sensor networks 1910, 1920and 1930 may all belong to the same user or may belong to individualusers or establishments who have agreed to make their data public forother viewers to see. Additionally and/or alternatively, sensor networks1910, 1920, and 1930 may be shared only among users who have chosen toshare with only other specific users on the same system running the sameApp. As seen in FIG. 19, three sensor networks 1910, 1920, and 1930 arevisible, but because other users may have chosen not to share data withthe current user, there may be several or thousands of other sensornetworks available, but because of the secure nature of the networkdisclosed in the present disclosure, only those that have access can seethe respective sensor networks.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that map 1900 isscalable and may be manipulated by the user using any known scaling andviewing technique, including, but not limited to tapping, squeezing,pinching, scrolling, etc. FIG. 19B illustrates a close up view of area1950. As can be seen in FIG. 19B, more detail is displayed as the userzooms in on a specific area of the map 1900. Locations for sensornetworks 1920 and 1930 become easier to see and new sensor network 1940comes into view. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, theicons for the various sensor networks may represent the locations of thesensor networks, the owners of the networks, or any other informationthe user wishes to convey.

FIG. 19C depicts a view of a map layer in accordance with an embodimentof the present disclosure. As seen in FIG. 19C as a user continues tozoom in on a specific location such a s sensor network 1920, a renderingof the underlying office, home, commercial establishment, vehicle, etc.may be displayed creating a personal space layer. This personal spacelayer may be generated by free hand drawings, standard householdlayouts, consumer 3D software like Google Sketch-up™, 3D Max™, by usingaerial photos, or similar satellite imagery, video footage, dronefootage, or by using a sketch tool like Zen-Me Personal Space Editorprovided by a network provider like Zen-Me. It is to be understood, thatthe personal view takes over where imagery from standard maps, etc,ends. Accordingly, aerial footage or other imagery used for establishingthe personal space is more accurate than what conventional mappingservices. The imagery used for personal space may be an aerial photothat a user has taken from a roof or balcony of her house, or by anyother mean, aerials can also purchased from third parties or they can befilmed by drones or other remote devices.

It will be appreciated, that there is no limit to the level of detailthat may be included in the personal space layer. In an embodiment,multiple layers of a multi-story building may be displayed allowing theuser to penetrate each level in sequence. In an embodiment, a sketchtool may be included in the App. to aid the user in creating thisunderlying personal space layer. In another embodiment, the personalspace layer may be created in any available drawing tool and imported.As seen in FIG. 19C a user may indicate each deployed sensor by icon inthe personal space thereby allowing the viewer a better appreciation forthe potential information available from sensors 1921-1928.

In an embodiment, because of the communications and triangulationbetween sensors, the placement of the sensors within the personal spacelayer depicted in sensor network 1920 is a realistic depiction of theplacement of the actual sensors and not just icons on a screen. If asensor is moved or removed in the real world, its placement within thepersonal space layer will correspondingly change. The sketch used togenerate the underlying personal space layer may be manipulated, i.e.,rotated, sized, cropped, to more accurately reflect the actual sensorlocation since the sensor location is based on their placement in realspace. The GPS accuracy of the sensors may be between 1 and 100 feet,but more preferable is between 1-9 feet. Additionally and oralternatively, the actual GPS location of any specific sensor may beoffset or dithered for personal security reasons. This offset may bebased on a fixed distance or a variable/changing offset. In anembodiment, because each sensor may have an icon depicting its function,the viewer is able to select the data that they are interested in simplyby clicking on the sensor icon.

FIGS. 19D and 19E depict information typically available to a user byselecting an icon within a personal view layer. In FIG. 19D the user hasselected sensor 1917 which is a camera sensor. The window shows thestatus of the sensor (live), the sensor icon, and the location of thesensor (Front Door). This visual stream may be available from any devicecapable of creating visual images and can be used to report any suchvisual streams. Visual streams may originate from security cameras,personal IP cameras, visual sensors, or drones or robot sensors. Theicon may also include information about the owner of the sensor and inthe case of a video camera, provides an image or still picture from thesensor itself indicating the availability of the visual stream.

FIG. 19E illustrates the information associated with sensor 1921, whichis a temperature sensor. The window may provide owner information,location (office), the status of the sensor (working) and an actualtemperature reading (23.3° C.) and graph. It may also provide a visualindicator of an alarm condition via color (red, yellow, or green).

In an embodiment, user's can incorporate social communication into anyview including but not limited to personal views, life stream views, orany other view or selection of data available. This ability enhances thesocial networking experience for user's sharing sensor networks. In anembodiment, user's can add comments directly to the activities. In anembodiment, once the user selects the activity to view and comment on,they may additionally select to add comments by any known means. Theuser, in an embodiment, is able to comment on the values displayed inthe activity informational graphics, like the temperature readingdisplayed, “Vey hot at the Gym today, and crowded too . . . avoid lunchtimes”. Also, in an embodiment, the most recent comments are visible inthe life stream views in near real time, as well as anywhere theinformation from the sensor and info-graphics is being shared.

In another embodiment, a location view for a building or commercial siteis displayed. FIG. 20 depicts a location view 2000 for the “FitBox”health club. Window 2001 displays information related to the locationincluding sensor space 2005, location view 2010, and description/contentspace 2020. Sensor space 2005 may include some or all of the sensorslocated at the location. Sensor space 2005 includes information relatedto peak hour usage 2006, a camera 2007 and the squat rack usage 2008. Aswill be appreciated, peak hour usage information 2006 may be provided bya motion sensor, a vibration sensor, an ambient light or noise sensor orother types of sensors. As indicated in peak hour usage area 2006 gymusage may be indicated on an hourly bases. This information may bedisplayed in a variety of ways and is not limited to the display shown.As will be appreciated a variety of bar graphs, line graphs or any otherrendering may be used to convey the desired information. In space 2007,a camera view directed at the gym floor is shown. As will beappreciated, this could provide streaming video, time lapse or stillimages. In area 2008, a line graph depicting the squat rack usage withinthe gym is presented. This information may be provided by vibrationsensors, but could also be provided by other sensors, such as motionsensors or noise sensors. As will be appreciated, in an embodiment, thesensor information is related to the sensors depicted in the locationview 2010. Location view 2010 provides the personal layer with thevarious sensor icons placed within the image. As can be seen, 12vibration sensors 2011, 1 camera 2012, and 1 motion sensor 2013 arelocated throughout the location. As noted, the sensors displayed in thepersonal view depict the actual placement of the sensors within thespace.

Description/content space 2020 of window 2000 may include promotional orinformational content provided by the windows owner or may include otherinformation. It may comprise streamed video images provided by a camerasensor or may comprise text and still images.

FIGS. 21 and 22 depict additional location views for both privatelocations (FIG. 21) and public locations (FIG. 22). As will beappreciated, the location views are not limited to houses, office, orretail sites, but may include, boats, RVs', trucks, outdoor spaces,parks, parking lots, playgrounds, sports facilities, garages,warehouses, hot tubs, spas, saunas, woods, mountains, ski resorts, poolsor any other location, were a sensor may be located.

In an embodiment, users of the system, may create contact listscomprising other users and/or other retail or commercial establishmentswhich have established sensor networks. In this way, a user is able tobuild a social network of other users and share data within the confinesof the secure network. FIG. 23 depicts a sample of a contact list inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Image 2300 maybe overlaid with a contact list indicating the contacts which appearwithin the map image. Additionally and/or alternatively, the contactlist may overlay the map allowing the user to scroll and select anycontact desired. Icons 2320 may indicate sensor networks for thecontacts displayed in area 2325. Both business and personal contacts forusers of the sensor network are displayed in the left portion of image2300. Area 2305 may indicate the name of the contact and/or the name ofthe business. Icon 2310 indicates if the contact is personal or abusiness 2312. Area 2314 indicates a sample of the sensors deployed bythe select contact, in the case shown in area 2310, the contact hasthree sensors, a temperature sensor, an ambient light sensor and avibration sensor. Icon or image 2316 may provide an image if a camerasensor is installed. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art,that by selecting a contact, the user will be taken to that contact'ssensor network and will have access to the shared information providedby that contact. While the present disclosure represents a singlecontact list, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, thatnumerous variations of the contact list may be employed withoutdeparting from the present disclosure.

FIGS. 24A and 24B depict views of a business contact in an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. FIG. 24A shows the “activities” or sensorscenarios currently deployed at the FIT BOX gym. As can be seen, thepeak hour usage is one of the activities available to view and or sharefrom the contact with the present user. Other activities include the gymfloor camera and the squat rack usage activities. By selecting one ormore of these activities, the user may gain access into the sensorenvironment and track the activities at this location.

FIG. 24B, in an embodiment, illustrates the available sensors at theselected business location. By selecting the available sensors,information about the sensor and its capabilities may be displayed forthe user. If the user is interested in tracking this data, they mayselect the specific sensor at this location and that information will beshared in the user's network.

FIGS. 25A-C depict views of a personal contact. FIG. 25A depicts thevarious locations that this contact has deployed sensors. Asillustrated, the residence is available as well as the office and anyother locations where a sensor network is located. It will beappreciated, that if a contact has only one link device 210 onlyinformation for the location where the link device is presently locatedwill be available. This is because the sensors need to communicatethrough the secure pairing with the link device 210. Additionally and/oralternatively, if the user is at a location with their mobile device,which may have been paired with the deployed sensors, sensor data mayalso be available at that location because the sensors may communicatesecurely through the user's mobile device 205. Accordingly, if a userwishes to monitor sensors at several locations, they may need to deployseparate link devices 210 or may move their link device 210 fromlocation to location.

FIG. 25B depicts the activities available for this particular contact.In this embodiment, the user created a TV glare activity to monitorlight on the television screen using an ambient light sensor. The useralso may have other activities established such as plant watering, etc.If a contact in the user's network has created an activity, in additionto monitoring that activity, the user may, if permission is granted,copy that already created activity and deploy it within the user's ownnetwork. In this manner, the user does not need to recreate the activityfrom scratch. This ability in some embodiments, creates an “activitylibrary” for users within the same social network to share activities.In an embodiment, the provider's “official” library of activitiescontains ever increasing number of activities because any new activitycreated by a user for their own purposes becomes part of the provider'slibrary for other user to deploy. The data from these user generatedactivities is not be shared nor is any other user data. In anembodiment, the can add creator credits or attribution for the activitythat can be shared in the activity “about” details. FIG. 25C illustratesthe sensors the contact may have deployed within their sensor network.

In an embodiment, the user may create their sensor network utilizingactivities that have been previously created by the App provider. Forexample, a user may wish to deploy a temperature sensor to remotelymonitor the temperature in their garage. Rather then create an activityto control the sensor from scratch the user may be presented with aseries of already created activities to select from. The activities maybe presented based on the type of sensor or may be presented based onthe type of activity the user is seeking to monitor. For example, in anembodiment, the user may be presented with 10 activities to use with atemperature sensor. This may cause the user to deploy a sensor in afashion not previously intended. Additionally and/or alternatively, theuser may be presented with a list of activities for temperature sensorsand the user can then select the activity. The activities allow the userto quickly and easily deploy the purchased sensor or achieve the desiredmonitoring they are seeking.

In an embodiment, the activities are presented to a user in display ofavailable activities or in a list or menu format that allows the user todrag and drop from a library of activities to the user's personalcanvas. The user may add by selecting or dragging and dropping theactivities from the activities menu, although any other method may beused.

Once the user selects the desired activities, they may be presented tothe user in any format. In an embodiment, an arrangement of squaresboxes with individual elements inside is presented in a heads up display(HUD) type format. The HUD acts as a canvas where user sets up theactivities. In an embodiment, the user does not necessarily use the HUDfor daily observations, instead, only for setting up and managingactivities. All set-up may be done by visual and graphical interface,although menus, drop downs, overlays, pop ups, could all be used. Once auser has set up the activities and sensors selection on the HUD the userdefines the privacy settings utilizing a privacy menu. The privacy menuallows the user to share only the elements the user wants to share. Theuser is the only one that may access their own HUD. In an embodiment,elements from the HUD are mirrored to other users on map view, contactsview and other public displays in the system. In an embodiment, the HUDis never shared or accessible by other users.

FIG. 26A depicts a HUD for a user showing personal space area 2601 andgeofence and proximity spaces 2602. Personal space area 2601 maycomprise all the activities the user has previously selected and placedin the network. Each element 2603 may represent a separate activity orsensor that the user is presently controlling and/or monitoring. Icon2604 represents the activity menu and allows the user to easily add andselect new and additional activities to enable. By selecting icon 2604,the user is presented with the activity menu as seen on FIG. 26B. Theactivities menu 2605 presents the user with options which may beselected and dragged directly to the user's HUD 2601. Area 2606 presentsthe user with a selection of the most popular activities to choose from.Area 2607 may present the user with activities used by others within thenetwork and shared with the user. Area 2608 allows the user to search byactivity while area 2609 allows the user to search by parameter. Suchparameters may be by creator, by organization, by sensor manufacturer,by use, by indoor, outdoor, weather, etc. Once a user has selected a newactivity, they may just drag it and place it on area 2601. Theactivities already present may automatically rearrange to allow the newactivity to be displayed or it may add at the bottom of the display. Itis understood by those skilled in the art, that the selection andplacement of activities may be implemented in a number of ways based ondesign choice without departing from the present disclosure.

In an embodiment, as seen in FIG. 27, the activity is arranged as a gridof individual pixels. All the individual smaller pixels or elements forma larger pixel 2700 and form an exact grid. In an embodiment, a size of2×4 elements is selected with 4 pixels along the horizontal and 2 pixelsalong the vertical, although any grid layout may be used, such as a 4×4,2×2, etc. In an embodiment, an element may occupy more then 1 pixel. Forexample, element 2701 is 1×1 pixel, whereas, element 2702 is a 1×3pixel. In an embodiment, a user taps or otherwise selects an individualelement and moves the element anywhere within the large pixel area 2700.This is similar to how icons on a touch screen can be ordered orrearranged.

Once the activity is arranged by the user, the user customizes theactivities display. Each activity contains a set of elements like headerelement 2701, info-graphics element 2702, sensor element 2703, feedbackelement 2704 and reporting element 2705. The reporting element may be anumerical display or raw data such as temperature. Activities may alsocomprise an information element 2706 that provides information about theactivity creator or owner, version, etc. The informational element 2706may be helpful in a map view where the activity is presented alone.

In an embodiment, a user, rather then selecting from the activity menucreates their own activity. By selecting a creator menu, the userselects individual elements to create a unique activity. The usercreates the activities by just dragging and dropping individual elementslike those shown for example in FIG. 27. The systems or app will buildthe new activity from the selected elements.

The individual elements may be tuned and adjusted by the user. Byallowing elements to be customized, the activities may be user definedto set parameters, alarms, operating ranges, and other personalizedsettings. For example, header element 2701 can be changed from “Sauna”to “Sunset” and sensor element 2703 from temperature to light. Feedbackelement 2704 which provides feedback to the user when an event occurs,can be altered from sending the message “Sauna Ready” to “Sun Setting”.Additionally, feedback element 2704 may be color coded and can includetriggers and thresholds that may be user defined. In an embodiment, thefeedback element 2704 becomes visual on the life stream and that defineswhen the update to stream will occur. For example, whenever themonitored condition changes, i.e., “Sauna heating up” to “Sauna Ready”,the data will be updated and the feedback displayed will change as well.It is understood, that in an embodiment, the defines these messages withtext, colors, and triggers that can cause the feedback to notify theuser. In some embodiments, the feedback may trigger other externaldevices. In an embodiment, the feedback can be used to generate an“Alarm” that may causes the system to use appropriate tools like SMS,voice messages, iOS alarms to notify the user of the change in the eventon the monitored life stream. In this manner, the activities that can becreated and utilized by users may be greatly expanded to monitor andinteract with the user. The info-graphics element 2702 may also bechanged into some other style that visualizes sunsets better than theSauna Temperature style does. For example, it may be a bar chart, circlechart, etc.

FIGS. 28A and 28B depict a user's privacy settings for their sensornetwork on the HUD. In an embodiment, once the user sets up the HUD withall their activities they may assign different privacy setting/sharingsetting to each activity. In an embodiment, all activities and elementsare private by default until the user selects something different.

In an embodiment, if a user wants to define privacy settings on anyactivity, on the HUD, the user may tap or otherwise select the specificactivity. The selected activity changes to a different color indicatingthe user has made a selection regarding that activity. In an embodiment,the activity transitions from to red from green to mark that the user ischoosing to change the privacy setting for that activity.

In an embodiment, the user simultaneously selects a number ofactivities, such as activities 2801 and 2802, to apply the same privacysettings across the selected activities. Next, from the privacy settingsmenu 2803, the user selects what the privacy setting for the chosenactivities will be. The setting can be “private”, “public”, (i.e.,shared to all users), “chosen” (i.e. selected members from the user'snetwork) or “all contacts”, (i.e., all the user's contacts but not theentire network—not public). If selecting by contact a list of contactsfrom the user's contact list appears in the privacy menu 2800. The samecontacts may be available on the contacts view.

Additional privacy setting switches such as “All Muted” 2804, “GeoLocation”, 2805 and “Switches” 2806 appear as buttons on the privacyscreen 2800. All muted button 2804 mutes all of a user's sharinginstantly, making none of the shared sensor assets visible to theoutside world. Only the user will have access to the sensors and datawhen the all mute is deployed. By selecting the all muted button 2804,the user's data will disappear. By selecting it again, all the sharedassets will reappear as they where. The history during the muted periodwill not be visible to shared audiences but will be available to theuser. In an embodiment, the implementation of the muting occurs at thehardware level, i.e., at the link device 210. That is, once the mute istriggered, the link device hardware will do the muting. This isdifferent then continuing to transmit data to a storage but notbroadcasting the data. In this embodiment the data is not transmittedpast the link device. For example, for a home based senor network, ifthe user wants to stop sending data outside of his home to any networkswhatsoever, the mute is executed at the link device hardware and notraceable sensor data is sent via a public network. So in an extremecase, if there is a data breach of a large scale server operations likeApple iCloud, the user can just by pressing all mute button 2804 stopall system communication to the outside world beyond the gateway of thelink device 210. This hardware based privacy feature of the link deviceis central to the present disclosure. In an embodiment, based on varioususer defined set-ups, the link device may still store the “muted” datain link device memory and individual sensors memory until the all mutebutton function is disabled. In an embodiment, the user defined settingsand privacy tool, allow the data to either be shared after the fact ashistory or remain private but stored in the user defined location. In anembodiment, this feature creates “dead zones” in the user's sharedhistory when desired.

Similarly, in an embodiment, geo-location button 2805 will stopreporting the geo-location of the sensors to the shared audience.Additionally, in an embodiment, for reasons of security, geo-locationmay be dithered so as to not provide an exact location. Using slider2807, the user may introduce some location delta into the geo-locationdata, thereby protecting the location and privacy of the user. The deltamay be selected as a set fixed distance or may be a floating distancethat varies.

In an embodiment, a location privacy element is added to the sensordata. The location privacy may be “floating” or “fixed.” Slider 2807 onthe privacy tools 2800 allows a user to define whether the locationbased data is accurate in its representation of location, i.e., “fixed”or if it is only in the proximity of the data source, i.e. “floating”.By selecting a sensor icon on the map view a user may see an indicatorthat indicates that the position on the map is “true” and “fixed”. Ifthe sensor icon element does not have the indicator, it means that theuser has decided to share the data but not the exact location, i.e., thesensor icon is floating. The amount of offset or float is determined bythe user. In an embodiment, that range is between 0.1-5 miles, butpreferably between 0.1 to 3 miles. The fact that the data is beingshared with an offset, may be disclosed to other users so they may judgethe quality of the data and determine if they can still wish to use itfor their personal use. For example, if a user wants to check thetemperature on 5th Ave in Manhattan, that user could be sure the readingthey were viewing from a shared sensor is at least a temperature withinthe Manhattan area even if its floating and not exactly on 5th Avenue.This location privacy feature enables sharing any location whilemaintaining a level of privacy. In another example, a user may wish toshare the city they are in but not the exact location. In an embodiment,the system shows the floating data point on the map view randomly withinthe set radius from its source and updates the location randomly uponrefresh of the map view screen at pre-defined intervals.

In an embodiment, switch button 2806, will stop any activity of a sensorswitch that may be controlling another device.

FIG. 28B depicts a data privacy portion 2808 of the privacy screen 2800.As depicted, the data privacy buttons 2809 and 2810 allow the user toselect where the sensor data will be stored. The user may select betweena personal cloud space or a provider cloud space.

In an embodiment, once a user has established a sensor network ofpersonal and shared sensors, the user may view all the data in anyvariety of ways. Such life stream data may include data from one or moresensors and may include sensors from a provider such as Zen-Me® or otherthird party sensors from other sensor manufacturers.

FIGS. 29A-H depict various stream views of a user's sensor network in anembodiment of the present disclosure, although other views and displaysmay be used. FIG. 29A shows the user's personal life stream 2900 builtoff of the user's own sensors and a world stream 2901 showing otheruser's sensors that the user is monitoring. In FIG. 29A all the user'ssensors are shown in the life stream 2900, but menu 2902 allows the userto selectively choose groupings of sensors such as wearable sensors,visual sensors, location based sensors, proximity sensors, and controltype sensors.

Menus 2903 similarly may allow the user to view different views in theworld stream, such as the user's personal sensors in the world view,i.e., how others may see them, public sensors in proximity to the user'slocation, and pinned sensor activities that the user has selected. In anembodiment, the world stream 2901 is different than life stream 2900.The life stream 2900 displays data the user collects about his or herpersonal life and personal space. The world stream 2901 displays datathat the world reports to the user, i.e., data shared by others. Thesection “personal” in menu 2903 on the world stream 2901 is anotherprivacy feature that allows the user to clearly see exactly what datathe user collects on the life stream that the user has decided to sharewith the world. The world stream 2901 can have all the same views as thelife stream 2900 but will consist of only the data that another usershares with the current user. In that way, in an embodiment, a user canadd a view like “My Boss” to the world stream 2901 thereby following inthat stream only the activities that the user's boss has decided toshare with the user or everyone. “Pinned” view in menu 2903 is anotherview that follows the activities that the user has pinned to follow onthis view. These pinned views may be used to cluster or group activitiesinto relevant categories for the user to follow. For example, a usercould create a grouping for music or clubs. In an embodiment, theseviews can be added by the user and named anything the user chooses, inan embodiment, “personal” is the default view and can not be removed.

FIG. 29B shows all the activities for the wearable sensors the user maybe currently monitoring. FIG. 29C shows all the visual sensors, FIG. 29Dshows the activities sorted by locations, FIG. 29D all activities sortedby proximity and FIG. 29E shows all the control type devices the user ismonitoring and or controlling. FIGS. 29F and 29G depict different worldstream views as well.

In an embodiment, activity from the sensor data streams may be sharedwith other users who then may provide comments, post and add updatesabout the Activities and generally discuss and share the sensor data.

Comments on the sensor data may be in the form of text, pictures, links,or any other format. User's with access to an activity may interact in asocial network aspect with the data and/or the data's owner to provideinsight, updates, and commentary based on the data.

In an embodiment, the sensor data, data stream is presented in atimeline format that represents the sensor activities in chronologicalorder. Associated with that data is any corresponding comments and postsshared by the user and or any of the user's contacts that have access tothat data. In an embodiment, the user is able to manage the data andinformation about his or her activities in real life via the streamedsensor updates from the user's private network of social sensors.

In an embodiment, the timeline presentation of data allows users tocomment and share information in chronological format based on thenetwork sensor data. As the sensor data is gathered, the information isconveyed to the secure storage and is identified with a universal timeindicator. Time indicators may be provided from the GPS information ormay be generated based on a system wide or network wide timingmechanism. In an embodiment the sensor data owner may decide how thesensor data is shared. The data owner may set commenting levels andpermissions as well. For example, a user that shares data with selectmembers within a group may allow those users to comment on the data andto share those comments with others that have access to that data.Additionally and/or alternatively, those users may be able to postcomments which are viewable by a subgroup of users or the data owneronly. In another embodiment, the data may be sharable with all users.Still further, the activity data may be shared only once by using a“Share Once” function. Such a function allows a user to share a momentof personal sensor data without having to share the full history or toallow future sensor data to be shared.

FIGS. 30A-B depicts a world view stream in an embodiment for use on apersonal mobile device such as a smart phone. Screen 3000 depicts auser's world view as it may appear on a mobile device such as a smartphone. Activity tiles 3001, 3003, and 3005 represent different sensoractivities that the user is monitoring. These may be the user's ownsensor activities or activities that have been shared by others. Eachactivity may have its own social media component associated with it,such as a conversation, photo, etc., Users may engage in conversationand post updates related to various activities, such as seen in area3002 and 3006. Alternatively, and/or additionally, users may post photosand comments associated with the activity as seen in area 3004. It is tobe understood that there is no limit to the nature of the conversation,content or type of information that may be shared, posted and/orcommented on. User's can post hyperlinks, audio files, video files, orother information in comments.

FIGS. 31A-B depicts an expanded view of the world view screen foractivity 3001. This view may be seen when a user engages the activityfrom the summary screen. Conversation 3002, related to activity 3001 mayhave two participants, 3101, 3102 or any number of participants. If theviewer looks to expand the information associated with activity 3001 theuser may select that activity and to be presented with expandedinformation. Additionally, and/or alternatively, the user may swipe leftor right or up and down to advance from one monitored activity tile tothe next.

FIG. 32 depicts an expanded view of the data and the socialconversation, networking, aspect associated with that activity. FIG. 32depicts activity 3001 with the conversation 3002 presented in achronological order associated with the data. As seen, comment 3201 thestart of the conversation begins with a photo at 12:09 and is pinned tothat time on the data stream. Subsequent conversations 3202-04, whichoccur some time later appear further down the data stream and directlybelow each other indicating their close proximity in time. Comment 3205,however, which occurs later in time, is shown further chronologicallyfurther down the data stream. In this manner asocial network associatedwith the active data may be established.

FIG. 33 depicts the activity tiles selection and as seen, allows theuser to swipe through their activities, or select them based on acategory.

In an embodiment, the social data itself is cataloged and indexed basedon a number of criteria, such as user, commenter, type of activityfollowed, location, frequency and others. For example, if the activitywas a sauna-activity, the social data related to the activity may beindexed based on the activity. So if a user shares the activity, theuser can also share the social data related to the activity, likediscussions, or only the Activity with sensor data only. This data maybe indexed on any one or more of the identified criteria allowing theoperator (i.e., system owner) an opportunity to gather large amounts ofuser data from users showing a propensity to specific topics. Suchindexed data may be of substantial value to the system owner. The dataowner may decide to auction their own data to third parties such ascompanies willing to buy such data, however, it is up to the data ownerto control the data. In an embodiment, the monetization of data includesthe owner. That is, the data owner/user can auction the data though aprovided third-party service, wherein the third-party service providertakes a share of owner's transaction but does not control any decisionsabout the ultimate sale of the data.

By allowing the data to be pre indexed allows a potential data user anopportunity to quickly and easily use such data. It is to be understood,that it is up to the actual user to allow the use of the data byselecting various privacy settings associated with the private networkof social sensors.

In an embodiment, the indexed data may be monetized. This may be done byauction, bulk purchase, criteria purchase, targeted user data purchases,etc. However, because the data is indexed as it is catalogued, thegranularity of data purchases of user information is easy and efficient.

FIGS. 34-37 depict various activity creator pages in an embodiment. FIG.34 depicts the activity creator page allowing the user to select, aphoto for the activity backdrop, thereby personalizing their activity aswell as making it illustrative of what area and/or type of sensormonitor will be being used. For example, a user may select a gardenpicture if they are creating an activity for a moisture sensor or a poolor hot tub picture for a temperature sensor. They may select a pictureof a kitchen or den if creating an activity associated with a roomwithin a home or office. In an embodiment, the user may select a picturefrom a personal or general photo library or may choose to take apicture. The user may crop, edit, rotate, or otherwise manipulate thepicture in any way prior to selecting it as the background for theactivity. FIG. 35 depicts the activity tile creator allowing for theuser to select the sensor to associate with the specific activity. Asseen in FIG. 35, the user may select a weather sensor to monitorhumidity or any other available sensor. In an embodiment, the selectionof a sensor may prompt the user with an opportunity to purchase thesensor directly from the activity creator.

FIG. 36 depicts another step in the activity creator which allows theuser to select a data element for the sensor, such as a threshold or setpoint. For example, a user may select a data element for a alarm or aready trigger. The selection of available data elements will bedependent on the sensor selected.

FIG. 37 depicts the feedback element that can be added during thecreation of an activity. The feedback could be a graph of any type andcolor or may be alphanumeric, or any other available symbol, chart, orgraphic that represents the data to the user. Other options for creationof the activity include but are not limited to creating titles,descriptions, color options, fonts, images, videos, etc. The creation ofthe personal activity screen allows the user to personalize theexperience while also customizing the activity in such a way that othersmay be inspired to use that activity for their own rather then create anactivity. Any activity a user selects may be edited and/or personalizedfor the user. Additionally and/or alternatively, a user may make his orher activities public for others to use and/or be inspired by. In thismanner there is no need for a user to recreate an activity that hasalready been designed and or deployed.

FIG. 38 depicts a general computer architecture on which the presentteaching can be implemented and has a functional block diagramillustration of a computer hardware platform which includes userinterface elements. The computer may be a general purpose computer or aspecial purpose computer. This computer 3800 can be used to implementany components of the sensor social networking platform as describedherein. For example, the secure storage, the network, the activitylibrary can all be implemented on a computer such as computer 3800, viaits hardware, software program, firmware, or a combination thereof.Although only one such computer is shown, for convenience, the computerfunctions relating to dynamic relation and event detection may beimplemented in a distributed fashion on a number of similar platforms,to distribute the processing load.

The computer 3800, for example, includes COM ports 3850 connected to andfrom a network connected thereto to facilitate data communications. Thecomputer 3800 also includes a central processing unit (CPU) 3820, in theform of one or more processors, for executing program instructions. Theexemplary computer platform includes an internal communication bus 3810,program storage and data storage of different forms, e.g., disk 3870,read only memory (ROM) 3830, or random access memory (RAM) 3840, forvarious data files to be processed and/or communicated by the computer,as well as possibly program instructions to be executed by the CPU. Thecomputer 3800 also includes an I/O component 3860, supportinginput/output flows between the computer and other components thereinsuch as user interface elements 3880. The computer 3800 may also receiveprogramming and data via network communications.

Hence, aspects of the sensor social networking platform may be embodiedin programming. Program aspects of the technology may be thought of as“products” or “articles of manufacture” typically in the form ofexecutable code and/or associated data that is carried on or embodied ina type of machine readable medium. Tangible non-transitory “storage”type media include any or all of the memory or other storage for thecomputers, processors or the like, or associated devices thereof, suchas various semiconductor memories, tape drives, disk drives and thelike, which may provide storage at any time for the softwareprogramming.

All or portions of the software may at times be communicated through anetwork such as the Internet or various other telecommunicationnetworks. Such communications, for example, may enable loading of thesoftware from one computer or processor into another, for example, froma server or host computer of the sensor social networking platform orother DCP service provider into the hardware platform(s) of a computingenvironment or other system implementing a computing environment orsimilar functionalities in connection with generating the sensor socialnetworking platform. Thus, another type of media that may bear thesoftware elements includes optical, electrical and electromagneticwaves, such as used across physical interfaces between local devices,through wired and optical landline networks and over various air-links.The physical elements that carry such waves, such as wired or wirelesslinks, optical links or the like, also may be considered as mediabearing the software. As used herein, unless restricted to tangible“storage” media, terms such as computer or machine “readable medium”refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions to aprocessor for execution.

Hence, a machine readable medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, a tangible storage medium, a carrier wave medium or physicaltransmission medium. Non-volatile storage media include, for example,optical or magnetic disks, such as any of the storage devices in anycomputer(s) or the like, which may be used to implement the system orany of its components as shown in the drawings. Volatile storage mediainclude dynamic memory, such as a main memory of such a computerplatform. Tangible transmission media include coaxial cables; copperwire and fiber optics, including the wires that form a bus within acomputer system. Carrier-wave transmission media can take the form ofelectric or electromagnetic signals, or acoustic or light waves such asthose generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) datacommunications. Common forms of computer-readable media thereforeinclude for example: a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetictape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD or DVD-ROM, any otheroptical medium, punch cards paper tape, any other physical storagemedium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM,any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave transporting data orinstructions, cables or links transporting such a carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer can read programming code and/ordata. Many of these forms of computer readable media may be involved incarrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to aprocessor for execution.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present teachings areamenable to a variety of modifications and/or enhancements. For example,although the implementation of various components described above may beembodied in a hardware device, it can also be implemented as a softwareonly solution—e.g., an installation on an existing server. In addition,the sensor social networking platform and its components as disclosedherein can be implemented as a firmware, firmware/software combination,firmware/hardware combination, or a hardware/firmware/softwarecombination.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forthherein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which theseinventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is tobe understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associateddrawings describe example embodiments in the context of certain examplecombinations of elements and/or functions, it should be appreciated thatdifferent combinations of elements and/or functions may be provided byalternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appendedclaims. In this regard, for example, different combinations of elementsand/or functions than those explicitly described above are alsocontemplated as may be set forth in some of the appended claims.Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

1. A link device for connecting sensors with a network or an electronicdevice in a social sensor network, said link device comprising: a lowenergy short-range communications interface capable of communicatingwith a plurality of sensors, a long-range communication transceiver forreceiving and transmitting information wirelessly to a network or anelectronic device, a hard-wired memory including a unique link deviceserial number, a CPU and a non-transitory computer readable memorymedium for the storage of received sensor data from the low energyshort-range communications interface and data buffering, and wherein thenon-transitory computer readable memory medium includes instructions forsecurely pairing at least one sensor, through the low energy short-rangecommunications interface with the link device.
 2. The link deviceaccording to claim 1, further comprising at least one sensor capable ofsensing at least one of: relative humidity, temperature, ambient light,vibration, motion, sound, pH, moisture, proximity, shock, pressure,density, seismic activity and air quality.
 3. The link device accordingto claim 1, further comprising a GPS receiver.
 4. The link deviceaccording to claim 3, wherein the non-transitory computer readablememory medium has further stored instructions for determining thelocation of paired sensors utilizing received data from the low energyshort-range communications interface from the paired sensors and the GPSreceiver of the link device.
 5. The link device according to claim 1,wherein the non-transitory computer readable memory medium has furtherstored instructions for determining the location a non-GPS enabledpaired sensors or the link device itself based upon received data fromthe low energy short-range communications interface from a paired sensorwith a known location.
 6. The link device according to claim 1, furthercomprising at least one solar cell.
 7. The link device according toclaim 1, wherein the hard-wired memory including the link device serialnumber is unalterable.
 8. The link device according to claim 7, whereinthe hard-wired memory is a silicon ID.
 9. The link device according toclaim 7, wherein the hard-wired memory is a set of fuses and the linkdevice serial number is set using a one time programmable fuse method.10. The link device according to claim 1, further comprising anauthentication circuit capable of irreversibly paying at least onesensor with the link device through the low energy short-rangecommunications interface.
 11. The link device according to claim 10,wherein the authentication circuit contains a pre-programmed uniqueserial number.
 12. The link device according to claim 1, wherein thenon-transitory computer readable memory medium has further storedthereon a set of instruction for managing access to and controlling thesharing of sensor data through the long-range communicationstransceiver.
 13. The link device according to claim 12, wherein thenon-transitory computer readable memory medium has further storedthereon a set of instructions for instantly stopping the sharing of datathrough upon request through either the long-range communicationstransceiver and/or short range communications interface.
 14. The linkdevice according to claim 1, wherein the instructions for securelypairing the at least one sensor include instructions for irreversiblypairing the sensor with the link device.
 15. The link device accordingto claim 1, wherein the instructions for securely pairing the at leastone sensor include instructions for pairing a sensor to the link devicein an exclusive relationship based on a sensor ID of the sensor and thehard-wired unique link device serial number.
 16. The link deviceaccording to claim 15, wherein the instructions for securely pairing theat least one sensor include instructions for checking a received sensorID received through the short-range communications interface with aremote database through the long-range communications transceiver.